The personal care industry thrives on being able to deliver multiple performance products based on mixtures of several components, with each having performance characteristics important to or desirable in the final formulation. One desirable characteristic is the ability to provide a silky initial feel derived from low molecular weight silicones, such as for example, octamethylcyclotetrasilioxane or decamethylcyclopentasiloxane, in the formulation while maintaining a high, but shear-thinnable viscosity. While these low molecular weight silicones provide the desired feel characteristics, they are also low viscosity, highly flowable liquids. Thus they are not easily held in a formulation, preferring rather to separate and flow out of a given container or flow uncontrollably across the skin when used in a specific application. Further, it desirable to achieve an initial silky feel while providing a smooth, low-residue feel upon dry-down. Polymeric silicone gels prepared in volatile silicone have been found to deliver desirable initial feel of volatile, low viscosity silicones to formulations while at the same time provide high viscosity and a smooth silky feel on dry-down, see for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,760,116, 5,493,041 and 4,987,169.
Such polymeric silicone gels have typically been made by the hydrosilylation reaction, which requires the use of both SiH functional groups and terminal olefinic groups to form crosslinked siloxane polymers. Thus only siloxane structures that can incorporate silylhydride groups and optionally, vinyl functional siloxane groups, can be utilized in making these materials. Further this method of generating crosslinked siloxane polymers limits the range of desirable organofunctional groups that may be incorporated into the polymeric structure to create additional performance advantages in complex formulations. Thus attempts to include organofunctional groups into the crosslinked siloxane polymer include unsaturated organic groups compatible with the hydrosilylaton reaction.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,313,249; 6,399,081; and 5,039,761 disclose a method for the preparation of a silicone-grafted acrylic copolymer that consists of an acrylic backbone and a polysiloxane side chain. U.S. Pat. No. 6,207,782) discloses free-radical polymerized acrylates/methacrylates of polyether-terminated polysiloxanes and emulsions including these polymers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,678) discloses a class of materials termed acrylated epoxy silicones that are made from an epoxy silicone and acrylic acid which include a polyether-substituted silicone.
Silicone network polymers are widely used as components of various personal care compositions. However, most of these silicone network polymers are not compatible with polar media such as water. Therefore, there is a need in personal care for hydrophilic silicone networks that are compatible with a wide range of polar or non-polar media and which can provide performance benefits such as emulsification, thickening, adhesion, gloss, durability and detackification of hydrophilic actives.